1. Field of the Invention
Decoys and/or smoke grenades based on, for example, red phosphorus (RP) or nitrocellulose (NC) are used in military applications, such as smoke grenades, infrared (IR) effect aircraft decoys, etc. The RP/NC develops the smoke and IR action by burning after suitable ignition. The ignition of RP units (active matter) takes place by means of an ignition or break charge, which ensures that the bodies can ignite optimally for the particular purpose, and so can burn.
2. Description of the Background Art
The use of such a decoy target in civil air traffic is not possible owing to the munitions component, since explosive substances are not accepted in this context and international safety agreements have to be upheld.
On this basis, a new ignition concept has been developed, which enables the ignition of RP/NC flares without explosives and/or pyrophoric substances.
This new ignition concept is described in more detail in DE 10 2006 004 912 A1, which corresponds to US 20090007768, and which is incorporated herein by reference. From this, a system for protecting large airborne platforms in particular, such as aircraft, against IR-guided or radar-guided threats is known. Here, the activation or ignition of the active body is preferably carried out without contact. The launching of the active body is then performed pneumatically or mechanically. The active bodies themselves are munitions-free packages, which are ignited by hot air or a laser.
DE 10 2009 020 558, which corresponds to US 20110174182, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an activation unit, which activates (ignites) the active substances/flare material by supplying thermal energy, wherein the use of explosives is avoided. This has an ignition tube, from which the active substances are ejected, a high-temperature activation element, which includes n heaters, which are disposed geometrically separately from each other and radially around the perimeter of an ignition tube. The material selection of the individual heating elements allows temperatures >600° C., wherein the heating elements are designed so that they allow very dynamic heating owing to low mass. To minimize heat loss and for further optimization of the thermal activation unit, ceramic inlays are provided. With this thermal optimization and an appropriate control technique, a very short response time of the heating elements is achieved, i.e. the heating time from the activation point until reaching the rated temperature is extremely short (small or low).
DE 10 2009 030 868.7 deals with an ignition or activation unit for igniting red phosphorus flares by laser. The RP flares are subjected to laser radiation with a sufficiently high power density applied to their surfaces. By absorption of the laser radiation, the temperature of the RP flares increases, which results in the ignition of a self-sustaining combustion. For an ideal ignition (activation) of the flares, the laser energy is directed to the maximum possible proportion of the surface. For this, the laser beam is expanded by suitable optics, allowing extensive distribution.